Data from Emerson’s squad car computer show he was traveling 66 mph in a 35 mph zone with lights and sirens on for 1.5 seconds before he T-boned a green 1997 Chevrolet truck.Porter said Emerson made a mistake, but he was an otherwise exemplary officer with eight citizen commendations and 10 internal commendations over his 13-year career. Porter said this is Emerson’s only violation.Emerson declined to comment. He was convicted of his traffic signal violation and has since filed an appeal of the decision.

The incident took place on March 5, one hour into his shift, as he was trying to stop a suspected stolen car by speeding past the car to deploy spike strips.

But he ended up T-boning the Chevy truck, which sent his patrol SUV skidding across the intersection, striking a pedestrian before crashing into the Dough Nut shop.

Luckily, no employees or customers were injured and the pedestrian he struck suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

“In his zeal to apprehend suspects he could have been more alert to his situation,” Porter said. “His intent was to try and arrest felons, not to try and better a personal agenda.”